The present invention relates generally to intestinal catheters and more particularly to an intestinal catheter, inserted by use of a guide wire, for aspirating the stomach and feeding the small intestine.
The gastrointestinal tract comprises, in descending order from the mouth or nose, the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine and the large intestine. The small intestine or bowel comprises, in descending order, the duodenum, connected to the stomach through an opening called the pylorus, the jejunum, which connects with the duodenum at a location identified by an adjacent ligament called the Ligament of Treitz, and the illium, which in turn connects with the large bowel.
It is often desirable to emplace within the gastrointestinal tract a catheter where the downstream end of the catheter is located in the small intestine. Nelson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,778 and Nelson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,739 describe devices which can be emplaced within the small intestine. Those devices are designed to be inserted during surgery and are provided with pairs of inflatable balloons which facilitate the manipulation of the catheter through the small intestine. Because those devices require manual manipulation of the intestinal tract, they are inserted only during surgery.
There are techniques for insertion of intestinal catheters which do not involve surgery. Single lumen feeding tubes have been inserted into the intestine by use of a guide wire. The guide wire is inserted into the tube, and the pair are inserted into the gastrointestinal tract. The catheter and guide wire are moved through the gastrointestinal tract by manipulating the guide wire at the upstream or operator end of the tube. A radiologist uses a flouroscope to determine the position of the guide wire and catheter and to aid in moving them further through the gastrointestinal tract.
When a catheter is emplaced in the gastrointestinal tract, it may be necessary to replace the catheter periodically or to insert a catheter which can perform functions different than the originally emplaced catheter. For instance, if there has been emplaced a catheter that supplies nutritive material to the stomach, it may be desirable to remove that catheter and replace it with one which aspirates the stomach and supplies nutritive material to the intestine. It may also be desirable to emplace the new catheter without surgery and, thus, without the use of inflatable balloons to aid in moving the catheter through the gastrointestinal tract.